1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method in which a part of a carrier such as a blanket carrying a coating layer is pressed into contact with a printing plate to form a pattern layer and then a part of the carrier having the pattern layer is pressed into contact with a substrate to transfer the pattern layer to the substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
An invention disclosed, for example, in JP2010-158799A is conventionally known as the above printing method. In the invention disclosed in JP2010-158799A, a coating layer carried on a blanket is patterned by a pattern of a printing plate to form a pattern layer on the blanket by pressing the blanket into contact with the printing plate (first transfer step). Thereafter, the pattern layer on the blanket is transferred to a substrate by pressing that blanket into contact with the substrate (second transfer step).